GoAnimate.com is a free program that provides the necessary tools to create short animations. These animations can be used as a teaching tool for educators or as a method of displaying their knowledge and understanding for the students. The program allows for different backgrounds and character and pictures (heads) can be uploaded of people in your school building to be placed on the characters bodies. You can determine what action the characters will perform and insert talk bubbles. This is a great program that can keep students engaged when you are introducing new topics, reviewing material, or explaining daily class objectives/procedures. Students can create their own animations as an alternative method for displaying their understanding of core content material. This is an effective learning tool for regualr and special education students that gives them the opportunity to complete assignments while learning how to use technology. Special education students that have difficulty completing assessments or writing assignments can easily demonstrate their knowledge and creativity in a simple and entertaining manner. Many students have difficulty maintaining focus during classroom instruction and these short animations can break up the lectures and provide visual stimulation to actively engage students that are often distracted.
